Mer AU

Story

Reiner is depressed and tries to kill himself by flinging himself off an ocean cliff that's known for suicides. Bertholdt, a merman who hung around the area for these yummy human treats, decides to save him instead of eating him, though he's not entirely sure why.

Reiner can't stop himself from returning to the cold beach to see this mysterious creature. They begin to form a bond, with Reiner teaching him how to speak as well as a mermaid can.

Eventually Reiner can't bring himself to part from Bertholdt. He leaves his human life behind, traveling with Bertholdt to find the perfect home. They find a tropical cove hidden behind an underwater tunnel and decide it's right.

Marco, a human diver on vacation, finds the opening and enters their little paradise. He is amazed by Bertholdt and the hatchlings. Reiner and Bertholdt find Marco to be trustworthy, and allow him to return throughout his stay on the island. Marco, like Reiner, can't bring himself to leave such a magnificent creature. After returning home, he makes arrangements to move to the island permanently. He becomes their connection to the human world, visiting often and bringing supplies for Reiner.

Another mer, Jean, encroaches on their territory during spawning season. Reiner and Marco are able to fight him off, but once the season is over, he returns to apologize. They all know how spawning season affects mer and hold nothing against him. He slowly becomes another member of their cove, intrigued by their friendship.

Characters

Reiner Braun - A suicidal man who tried to kill himself by jumping off a cliff into the water below. He became obsessed with the creature that saved him, spending more time with him at the rocky shore than in his regular life, not that he had much of one.

Bertholdt - A mer who hung around a spot that was often used for suicides because it made for easy prey, but when he saw Reiner, he was for some reason hesitant and rescued him instead. He was as curious about the human as the human was about him, and had no complaints returning almost every night to get to know him. Even though merfolk don't feel love like humans do, he felt himself becoming unwilling to let Reiner leave. Bert has dark blue skin, almost black, that fades into a lighter turqoiuse on his front. He has a long, eel-like tail, capable of slithering on land. During spawning season, he gains electric blue striping.

Marco Bodt - An ameteur diver who visited the island for vacation. After swimming through the underwater tunnel that led to Reiner and Bertholdt's home, and actually being relatively warmly welcomed by the two, he knew he couldn't leave them. After returning home, he made preparations to move to the island permanently.

Jean - A mer who was drawn to Bertholdt during spawning season. He fought his instincts as much as he could because even though it was foreign to him, he understood that the humans with Bertholdt were trying to keep him away. Once the season ending and his mind returned to him, he returned to apologize, but ended up befriending the strange trio. Like Bert, Jean has a long, eel-like tail, with olive green skin spotted with yellow spots. During spawning season, his green color deepens and his spots turn red.

Lore

Mer are solitary creatures. They do not have family bonds and don't understand the human concepts of friendship or love. They only come together during spawning season, a two week long event where mer gather to breed. Their temperaments change and they become aggressive, and their tails become swollen and vibrant.

While solitary, they're not completely asocial. They're not aggressive towards one another outside of spawning season and will share their hellos, stories, and news when coming across another mer.

Most mer have long, eel- or snake-like tails with minimal short fins and no scales. They do not have human skin tones, the color of their tails continuing throughout their entire body. Their hands are clawed and webbed, and their gills are on the sides of their neck. Their jawbone is split, allowing it to open wider to make way for their inner jaws to extend out. The seam is generally covered by a thin layer of skin that quickly regrows after returning to a state of rest.

Mer are hermaphrodites. Their cloaca, located a few inches below the hipbones, is an inverted penetrative organ - when aroused, if the mer wishes, it can distend outwards. This organ is about a foot and a half long, tapering towards the tip, topped with a thin flare that almost resembles a pair of fins or the hood of a cobra.

Mer lay anywhere from 50 to 200 eggs, small and gelatinous orbs that vary in color based on the heritage of the mer. Most don't make it even to hatching. Mer don't look after their eggs; instead, they release them and let them drift off into the ocean currents, where they're at the mercy of changes in temperature and predation from other ocean life. However, it's not uncommon for mer who see a drifting egg or hatchling to try to usher it to a safer place.

Mer hatchlings are born with very little resemblance to their adult self, as small worm-like tubes with bulbous heads and tiny nubs where their arms will grow. They are translucent, with their cartilaginous bones and organs visible. Despite being essentially a fetus, they do have a mouth lined with tiny, sharp teeth. A swarm of mer hatchlings is extremely dangerous as they can shred flesh to the bone in seconds.

Art